INFORMATICS TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRY SCIENTISTS
SHORT-COURSES & UNIVERSITY PROGRAMS
Center for Bioinformatics and Applied Genomics, Mahidol University, Thailand: Offers local courses in Thailand and hosts free regional TDR workshops (see below).
http://www.ssitdr.net/cbag/Inter_Training/home.html
Institute of Biomedical and Life Sciences (IBLS), University of Glasgow, United Kingdom: Offers a one-year course in Bioinformatics best suited to students with a degree in molecular bioscience who wish to specialize in the computing aspects of biology. Scholarships are available for students from developing countries of the Commonwealth through the UK Department of International Development. In recent years British Council scholarship has been available for students from Thailand, South Korea and Malaysia. Contact IBLS for details.
www.gla.ac.uk/ibls/GradSchool/mastbio.htm
SANBI (South African Bioinformatics Institute): Has a number of training opportunities. SANBI holds free TDR sponsored 2-week training courses in bioinformatics (see below). The courses are open to Ph.D. candidates, postdocs, and junior lecturers and researchers on Tropical Diseases in Africa. The courses are free and selected participants receive full support toward travel and participation. SANBI also offers an MSc in bioinformatics, which takes between one and two years to complete, and a 12-month Medical Research Council of South Africa research Training internship. The latter is open to black South African citizens and can be renewed. SANBI is the European Molecular Biology Network (EMBNet) Node for South Africa. http://www.sanbi.ac.za/
University of Natal, South Africa: Offers postgraduate degrees in medical informatics (certificate, diploma, and Master’s). The program is structured to allow completion while working. Tuition rates apply. A limited number of fellowships is available for South African residents pursuing a Master’s degree. Open to candidates with a four-year bachelor’s degree or a professional bachelor’s degree with work experience.
http://www.nu.ac.za/department/extra.asp?id=1&dept=telehealthunm
University of Sao Paulo, Departamentos de Parasitologia e Ciencia da Computacao: Offers degree courses in medical informatics and also hosts free TDR courses (see below).
http://www.usp.br/fm/dim/index.htm
UNU/BIOLAC (United Nations University), Venezuela: Offers free short courses in bioinformatics about once a year as well as a series of on-line courses at the basic level. UNU/BIOLAC’s purpose is to use biotechnology to generate new knowledge to address the problems in Latin America and the Caribbean. It is part of the UNU, which operates globally and is part of the United Nations system. The UNU’s function is to serve as: an international community of scholars; a bridge between the United Nations and the international academic community; a think-tank for the United Nations system; and, a builder of capacities, particularly in developing countries. http://www.biolac.unu.edu/ Send inquiries to
unu@reacciun.ve
Wellcome Trust/Sanger Institute, UK: The Wellcome Trust holds a number of “advanced courses” (formerly known as the Wellcome Trust Summer Schools) in genomics that include informatics as a training component. The courses are free to scientists from academic institutions anywhere in the world, but there is a charge toward accommodation costs. The Trust also has a number of grant and fellowship opportunities as part of its international biomedical program. The Sanger Institute has Ph.D. and postdoc opportunities in genomics for scientists from all over the World. Students are registered at Cambridge. Full financial support is given regardless of nationality. Sanger also holds genomics workshops and seminars.
See
www.wellcome.ac.uk/en/1/biosersss.html and www.sanger.ac.uk
The Trust also offers training and other fellowships for developing country scientists see details at http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/en/1/biosfginttrpfunper.html. These might include some bioinformatics training if it is relevant to the research project proposed as part of a fellowship.
West African Biotechnology Workshops Series-Genome Sciences Laboratory, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, and Nigeria: Offers short-courses in bioinformatics. The courses are free of charge to selected participants. Subsidized university housing is available for the duration of the course. Courses are aimed at PhDs, post-docs and scientists.
www.wabw.org
CENTERS
Biotechnology Information System Network, Department of Biotechnology, Government of India: Has training opportunities and fellowships and lists resources for bioinformatics in India.
http://www.btisnet.nic.in/
EBI (European Bioinformatics Institute): Supports PhD training in bioinformatics through Marie Curie Fellowships for students pursuing PhD. Training is between 3 and 12 months. Applicants must be nationals of a Member or Associated State, including Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia) or be able to provide proof of having resided in Member States for at least the last five years prior to their selection.
http://www.ebi.ac.uk/MarieCurie/
Students are also eligible to enroll in a PhD program at the affiliated EMBL (European Molecular Biology Laboratory). Support for non-Member or non-Associated State nationals are dependent on the availability of external funds to the group leader.
http://www.emblheidelberg.de/ExternalInfo/PhdProgramme/phdadmissions.html
EMBnet: EMBnet is a science-based group of collaborating biological database nodes throughout Europe and a number of nodes outside Europe, including Latin America, Africa, Asia, and Russia. National nodes provide local training and support programs, including in bioinformatics in local languages. Both free and fee based programs are announced on the website. Contact individual national nodes for information about activities.
http://www.embnet.org/
ICGEB (International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology): Part of the U.N. system and receives funding from TDR (see below). Offers training and fellowships at pre- and postdoc levels and collaborative research grants to developing country member state scientists. Member states are those who are signatories to the ICGEB. Training takes place at the ICGEB’s facilities in Trieste, Italy, or New Delhi, India or affiliated centers in Afghanistan, Algeria, Argentina and Armenia. Also holds free 2-week training courses in bioinformatics supported by TDR (see below).
http://www.icgeb.trieste.it/
Note: applications are currently being accepted for a 2-week TDR course. Application deadline is July 15th. See course website
http://www.icgeb.res.in/~whotdr
TDR (UNDP/World Bank/WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases): Supports 2-week bioinformatics courses at four Centers for Training in Bioinformatics and Applied Genomics at the institutions listed below (see individual entries for further details). Selected participants will receive full financial support, including airfare.
South African National Bioinformatics Institute (SANBI), Cape Town, South Africa Departamentos de Parasitologia e Ciencia da Computacao, University of Sao Paulo (USP), Brazil. A copy of the most recent class program is available at
http://mairinque.ime.usp.br/~gubi/tdr2004/program.html
International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), India. Applications are being accepted through July 15th. See course website
http://www.icgeb.res.in/~whotdr
Faculty of Science, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand.
http://www.ssitdr.net/cbag/Inter_Training/home.html. Applications are
being accepted through June 14. See course website
http://www.ssitdr.net/cbag/Inter_Training/2003/callforapplications.html.
TDR has a global electronic mailing list open to any scientists interested in TDR's work. It can be used as an open forum to broadcast brief messages considered useful to the tropical diseases research scientific community. Especially sensitive to the needs of scientists from developing countries, the tdr-scientists serve as a networking forum for tropical disease research scientists everywhere who are connected to the Internet. To subscribe, email majordomo@who.ch and type the following in the body of the message: subscribe tdr-scientists. TDR’s future plans include the establishment of further regional networks, initiation of a distance learning program, and a Bioinformatics Career Development Grant to be made available to exceptional trainees. In the long term, TDR plans to develop Masters and Doctoral training programs in disease endemic countries. http://www.who.int/tdr
ON-LINE SHORT COURSES AND OTHER RESOURCES
AMIA (American Medical Informatics Association): Has listing of international medical/health association websites.
http://www.amia.org/resource/other_sites/f8.html
APBioNet (Asia Pacific Bioinformatics Network): Holds yearly bioinformatics conferences in Asia. It has also held training workshops in the past, and may develop more in the future. Travel grants are available to APBioNet conferences, with preference being given to attendees from Asia.
http://www.apbionet.org/index.shtml
BioCommons (University of Washington): This site is a web resource for the bioresearch community. Lecture notes and slides from bioinformatics courses are available through the web for self-schooling.
http://biocommons.bcc.washington.edu/index.html
ISCB (International Society of Computational Biology):
http://www.iscb.org
LacBionet: Bioinformatics research network in Latin America and the Caribbean with free information, including about training opportunities in the region.
www.lacbionet.org
Research Collaboratory for Structural Bioinformatics: Offers free online tutorials. RCSB is a non-profit consortium (Rutgers University, and Universities of California, Maryland, and Wisconsin). http://www.rcsb.org/index.html
